Leadership positions

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>How do you win club/school elections? In the two clubs I love, both have an election-based selection process, aka. popularity contests.</p>

<p>Candidates in the past have used candy/giveaway bribes, colorful posters, etc. but I don't want to bribe anyone for votes--I'd rather have supporters who actually want me, not the candy giveaway.</p>

<p>Do you have any advice for officer candidates during the election process? How did you earn your leadership positions?</p>

2

<p>I’ve been president of my grade my entire high school life. It is a popularity contest. If you lose one you’re bound to lose them all. I’m not that popular but I ran against some people less popular then I am.</p>

<p>Oooh, social hierarchy. Scary world. Good luck though! Candy bribes help if nothing else. And I love student government, my favorite thing about high school. :D</p>

3

<p>start a facebook group.</p>

4

<p>An Asian sophomore ran against Jeff, junior and Varsity football star extraordinaire, for Student Council VP. Who won? It’s not what you’d expect.</p>

<p>The Asian sophomore photoshopped himself onto Ken Jennings playing jeopardy and then put down the slogan “you just have to appreciate the genius of some people.” He found this picture of a huge sumo wrestler facing an Asian kid (<a href=“http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8121/neverbackdownj.jpg[/url]”>http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8121/neverbackdownj.jpg&lt;/a&gt;) and then had Never Back Down written below it in big letters. He put that poster in the cafeteria. He photoshopped himself onto Neo from the Matrix stopping bullets with the slogan “Mistakes? Not this time.” written below it.</p>

<p>That Asian sophomore was me. I am now the student body president.</p>

<p>There are many ways to beat the system. It’s 1% popularity, 99% energy and creativity. The problem with most high schoolers is that they focus only on the popularity aspect and never on the creativity.</p>

5

<p>Jayster - Woah. That’s incredible. How did you decide to capitalize on creativity to sway supporters? Do you think there were other parts of your campaign (speech, reputation for work ethic, charisma, intelligence, etc) that significantly assisted you throughout the election process? If I were in your situation, I probably would have decided to give up after seeing the opposing candidate, nevermind come up with amazing ideas to turn the tables. Where did you receive inspiration for your creative campaign strategies? Your experience has given me a new motivation for future campaigns; thank you :)</p>

<p>dreamingawake - Opposite of what Jayster said, your experiences as class president has demonstrated that elections are truly a popularity contest. While certainly both sides of a situation may coexist at different schools, do you think there were any other factors that contributed to your continuous success in student government? </p>

<p>Please feel free to share any personal anecdotes or general guidelines! I’d love to hear about your campaign/election experiences.</p>

6

<p>Maybe my school’s weird, but we honestly voted for people who we thought had their **** together and wouldn’t screw up deadlines and fundraisers and stuff. Quite a few ~popular~ girls lost. They ended up freaking out and claiming there was a conspiracy against them…</p>

7

<p>Same over here. It’s a popularity contest.</p>

8

<p>Aw that sucks :(</p>

<p>Mine are more like the teacher picks them, so it’s like teacher pets-ish.</p>

9

<p>My friend wasn’t exactly Mr. Popular, but he managed to win student body President. His posters were hilarious, including candid pictures of himself with funny descriptors like “jack-hammer,” “insatiable,” and “alpha-male.” He certainly deserved to win, and his little campaign helped him end the reign of the girl who’d been class pres since 8th grade. I believe his campaign especially helped get the votes of lower-classmen, who aren’t as knowledgeable about who the “popular” seniors are.</p>

10

<p>It depends on how large your school is. </p>

<p>if its big then its not as much a popularity contest because its impossible to know everyone</p>

11

<p>indeed. </p>

<p>i suggest u stand next to the ‘voting booth’ and just scream ur name as muhc as u can. it helped with the president of my school’s grade.</p>

<p>or u could go old school and make ur points and stand out.</p>